Graphviz: Difference between revisions

The educational technology and digital learning wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
mNo edit summary
 
(76 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 2: Line 2:
== Definition ==
== Definition ==


* [http://www.graphviz.org/ Graphviz] is an open source graph visualization software. It has several main graph layout programs
* [http://www.graphviz.org/ Graphviz] is an open source graph visualization software. It has several main graph layout programs, called '''layout engines'''.


== The dot representation language ==
; dot
: ''hierarchical'' drawings of directed graphs. The layout algorithm aims edges in the same direction (top to bottom, or left to right) and then attempts to avoid edge crossings and reduce edge length.


* [http://www.graphviz.org/pub/scm/graphviz2/pdf/dotguide.pdf dot guide]
; neato
* [http://www.wikischool.de/wiki/WikiSchool:Graphviz WikiSchool:Graphviz] (Tutorial in German)
: ''spring model'' - attempts to minimize a global energy function, which is equivalent to statistical multi-dimensional scaling. See also ''fdp''.
 
; fdp
: ''spring model'' layouts similar to those of neato, but does this by reducing forces rather than working with energy.
 
; sfdp
: multiscale version of fdp for the layout of large graphs.
 
; twopi
: ''radial layouts'', The nodes are placed on concentric circles depending their distance from a given root node.
 
; circo
: ''circular layout'' - suitable for certain diagrams of multiple cyclic structures such as certain telecommunications networks
 
== The GraphViz language and command line syntax ==
 
=== Command line syntax ===
 
See [http://www.graphviz.org/doc/info/command.html Command-line Invocation] (at graphviz.org).
 
GraphViz includes several command line commands. The most imporant one is ''dot''
 
The syntax pattern is:
cmd [ flags ] [ input files ]
 
Example:
dot -Tsvg GCF2.dot > GCF2.svg
 
Important flags:
 
; -T''format''
; -T''format:renderer''
; -T''format:renderer:formatter''
: Defines the output format. You also can choose from a renderer and change the default formatter for the renderer.
: See [http://www.graphviz.org/doc/info/output.html the list of output formats].
:: Most important ones for web pages: png, svg, cmapx (client-side html map), imap (server-side html map) and vrml (partially supported)
:: Most important ones for printing: png, svg, ps, pdf
:: Most important ones for specialized clients: '''dot''' (reproduces the input, along with layout information for the graph), '''xdot''' (same with lots of additional information)
 
; -K''layout_engine''
Examples:
: ''dot -Kneato'' is equivalent to running neato
: ''dot -Ktwopi'' runs the radial twopi engine
 
; -G''name[=value]''
: Defines attributes of the graph like overlaps, fonts, etc.
 
; -o''outputfile''
: specify the output file. Otherwise it's written to default output.
 
=== Format, rendering engines, formatters and layout engines ===
 
Here are some examples
 
; Client-side HTML maps
: creates client-side image maps (of course you'll have to attache URLS to either nodes or edges or both)
Example:
dot -Tcmapx -oyour_graph.map -Tpng -oyour_graph.png your_graph.dot
Then use something like:
<IMG SRC="your_graph.png" USEMAP="#mainmap" />
... [content of your_graph.map] ...
 
; SVG output using the default ''dot'' layout engine
Default use:
dot -Tsvg file.dot
Create SVG output using the cairo renderer and formatter
dot -Tsvg:cairo:cairo file.dot
 
; SVG output with the ''twopi'' engine
dot -Ktwopi -Tsvg GCF2.dot > GCF2.svg
 
; PDF output with the ''twopi'' or ''fdp'' layout engines
dot -Ktwopi -Tpdf GCF2.dot > GCF2.pdf
dot -Kfdp -Tpdf GCF2.dot > GCF2.pdf
 
; PNG output
Default use:
dot -Tpng
specifies PNG output produced by Cairo formatted using the GD library:
dot  -Tpng:cairo:gd
 
; xdot output
: Pratical to see where nodes are being positioned so that you can manually change things
: Also useful with graphviz clients
 
Example:
dot -Ksfdp -Txdot conole-fill-taxonomy-edutechwiki-sfdp.dot > temp.xdot
 
=== Some Neato command line examples ===
 
Lists configuration
neato -v
 
List all formats your installation can produce
neato -Tformat:
 
PNG output without overlap
neato -Tpng -Goverlap=false GCF.dot > GCF.png
 
SVG output
neato -Tsvg GCF.dot > GCF.svg
neato -Tsvg -Goverlap=scale -Gfontsize=8.0 GCF.dot > GCF.sv
 
== Graph files ==
 
=== Graph file syntax ===
 
Below is a semi-formal grammar (i.e. the real grammar simplified). See [http://www.graphviz.org/doc/info/lang.html the official doc] for a complete one.
 
Parentheses ''('' and '')'' indicate grouping when needed. ''Italic'' square brackets ''['' and '']'' enclose optional items. Vertical bars '''¦''' separate alternatives.
Stuff in '''bold''' must be typed "as is", e.g. bold '''[''' ... ''']''' square brackets or '''graph'''
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| ''graph'' || --> || ('''digraph''' ¦ '''graph''') ''id'' {''statement-list''}
|-
| ''statement-list'' || --> || ''statement''; ''statement''; ...
|-
| ''statement'' || --> || ''attr-statement'' ¦ ''node-statement'' ¦ ''edge-statement'' ¦ '''subgraph cluster_xxx {...}'''
|-
| ''node-statement'' || --> || id '''[''' attr-list ''']'''
|-
| ''attr-statement'' || --> || ('''graph''' ¦ '''node''' ¦ '''edge''') '''['''attr-list ''']'''
|-
| ''id'' || --> || ''id'' '''=''' ''id''
|-
| ''attr-list'' || --> || id'''='''val_id, id'''='''val_id, ....
|-
| ''id'' || --> || String ¦ quoted string
|-
| ''edge-statement'' || --> || id ('''--''' ¦ '''->''') id ''[''attr-list'']''
|}
 
; Comments
Are C++ style, i.e. either /* ....*/, // or #
 
; Identifiers (id and val_id)
* Must start with a letter
* Unquoted strings only can contain [A-Z][a-z][0-9] and "_"
* Otherwise strings must be quoted
 
=== Graphviz attributes ===
 
See either (or both):
* [http://www.graphviz.org/doc/schema/attributes.xml Graphviz attributes]
* [http://www.graphviz.org/doc/info/attrs.html Node, Edge and Graph Attributes]
In addition.
* [http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/graphviz/2999.1.0.0/doc/html/Data-GraphViz-Attributes.html#v%3APos GraphViz Attributes] (Haskell docs)
 
We we understood right (this is a disclaimer!)
* You may set these (most?) as global settings in the command line
* As global settings in a file at the graph level or for all nodes or for all edges.
* As "parameter" for node statements
* As "parameter" for edge statements
 
Also, some will not work with certain layout programs and there is interaction. I.e. sometimes it's quite difficult to figure out what given attributes will do. I found that pinning down nodes in given locations won't work with sfdp (or maybe I didn't figure out how to do this ...) - [[User:Daniel K. Schneider|Daniel K. Schneider]] 13:46, 24 May 2010 (UTC).
 
; size
: defines the size of the output in inches
: Consult Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size papersize] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_216#A.2C_B.2C_C_comparison ISO 216] articles for pratical tables that translate ISO (European) A,B,C formats to inches.
 
Example of a portrait A2 page:
size="34.4,16.5";
 
; ratio
: Is a '''crucial''' attribute for larger graphs that should fit on a given canevas size
Example:
: will try to fill a "page" defined by its size.
ratio="fill";
 
; page
: Defines multiple page outputs (only works with PS)
 
Example of A3 output (biggest page a typical laser printer can handle)
page="16.5,11.7"
 
; shape
: Defines the shape of a none
Example of a node redition:
: Remove shape (keep the text only), make it smaller:
node [fontsize=8,shape=none];
 
; overlap
: determines if and how node overlaps should be remove. There exist several alorithms
Examples:
overlap="false"
overlap="prism"
 
=== Edge and node attributes ===
 
Some attributes only apply to either nodes or edges
 
E.g.
 
node [fontsize=14,fontname="Arial",shape=none,nodesep=1,ranksep=2];
 
edge [arrowhead=normal,arrowsize=0.3,len=0.3]
 
== Simple graphviz for mediawiki examples ==


A directed graph that is represented like this  
In this wiki, a directed graph that is represented like this (if you use the graphviz software as standalone program, you should remove the XML tags with are specific to the Graphviz mediawiki extension we are using here).
<pre>
<pre>
<graphviz>
<graphviz>
digraph G4 {
digraph G4 {
             "Learning theories" [URL="Learning theory"];
            node [fontsize="10"];
             "Learning Theory" [URL="Learning theory"];
             "Pedagogic strategy" [URL="Pedagogic strategy"];
             "Pedagogic strategy" [URL="Pedagogic strategy"];
    "Instructional design models" [URL="Instructional design model"];
    "Instructional design model" [URL="Instructional design model"];
             "Learning theories" -> "Pedagogic strategy";
             "Learning Theory" -> "Pedagogic strategy";
             "Instructional design models" -> "Pedagogic strategy"
             "Instructional design model" -> "Pedagogic strategy"
}
}
</graphviz>
</graphviz>
Line 25: Line 224:
<graphviz>
<graphviz>
digraph G4 {
digraph G4 {
             "Learning theories" [URL="Learning theory"];
            node [fontsize="10"];
             "Learning Theory" [URL="Learning theory"];
             "Pedagogic strategy" [URL="Pedagogic strategy"];
             "Pedagogic strategy" [URL="Pedagogic strategy"];
    "Instructional design model" [URL="Instructional design model"];
    "Instructional design model" [URL="Instructional design model"];
             "Learning theories" -> "Pedagogic strategy";
             "Learning Theory" -> "Pedagogic strategy";
             "Instructional design model" -> "Pedagogic strategy"
             "Instructional design model" -> "Pedagogic strategy"
}
}
</graphviz>
</graphviz>


A simple non-directed graph (rendered with neato):
A simple non-directed graph (Notice: the XML attributes are ignored, worked once with an older version that is lost to humanity:
<pre>
<pre>
<graphviz renderer='neato' caption='Hello Neato'>
<graphviz>
  graph G1 {
  graph G1 {
     a -- b;
     aaa -- bbb;
     b -- c;
     bbb -- c;
     a -- c;
     aaa -- c;
}
}
</graphviz>
</graphviz>
</pre>
</pre>
gives:
gives:
<graphviz renderer='neato' caption='Hello Neato'>
<graphviz>
  graph G1 {
  graph G1 {
     a -- b;
     aaa -- bbb;
     b -- c;
     bbb -- c;
     a -- c;
     aaa -- c;
}
}
</graphviz>
</graphviz>


Or a more complex non-directed graph (rendered with neato):
Or a more complex non-directed graph:
<pre>
<pre>
<graphviz renderer='neato' caption='Hello Neato'>
<graphviz border="frame" caption="G7 example" alignment="left" location="none">
graph G {
graph G77 {
  node [fontsize="8"];
   run -- intr;
   run -- intr;
   intr -- runbl;
   intr -- runbl;
Line 73: Line 274:
</pre>
</pre>
like this
like this
<graphviz renderer='neato' caption='Hello Neato'>
<graphviz border="frame" caption="G7 example" alignment="left" location="none">
graph G {
graph G77 {
  node [fontsize="8"];
   run -- intr;
   run -- intr;
   intr -- runbl;
   intr -- runbl;
Line 97: Line 299:
=== Mediawiki extensions ===
=== Mediawiki extensions ===


* [[Semantic Result Formats]]
* [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GraphViz Extension:GraphViz] MediaWiki extension (Tested and '''used''' in this wiki (Mediawiki 1.17 as of nov 2011). Earlier testing with Mediawiki version 1.11, Graphviz 2.16.1 on Solaris 10 (2008) and Mediawiki 1.15 + graphviz 2.20.2 under Ubuntu (From 2009 to 2011). Works fine !
* [http://hexten.net/wiki/index.php/GraphViz_Widget GraphViz Widget] for Mediawikis (alpha status in Feb 2008).
* [http://hexten.net/wiki/index.php/GraphViz_Widget GraphViz Widget] for Mediawikis (alpha status in Feb 2008).
* [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Graphical_Category_Browser Extension:Graphical Category Browser] for MediaWiki (>1.7x). This may be outdated.
* [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Graphical_Category_Browser Extension:Graphical Category Browser] for MediaWiki (>1.7x). This may be outdated.
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GraphViz Extension:GraphViz] MediaWiki extension (Tested in this wiki. Worked with Mediawiki version 1.11, Graphviz 2.16.1 on Solaris 10 - DKS/2008)
* There is another Graphviz extension (by Gregory Szorc) located at http://web.archive.org/web/20071217001132/ or http://opensource.case.edu/svn/MediaWikiHacks/extensions/Graphviz/trunk/Graphviz.php (wayback machine version). This version features automatic pruning of Graphviz files on the filesystem and it can deal with other layout engines - tested in this wiki since 17:48, 25 May 2010 (UTC)


=== GraphiViz Viewers ===
=== GraphiViz Viewers ===
Line 105: Line 309:
* [http://zvtm.sourceforge.net/zgrviewer.html ZGRViewer]. GraphViz/DOT Viewer
* [http://zvtm.sourceforge.net/zgrviewer.html ZGRViewer]. GraphViz/DOT Viewer
* [http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il/g-cs/benari/idot/index.html iDot - Incremental Dot Viewer]
* [http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il/g-cs/benari/idot/index.html iDot - Incremental Dot Viewer]
 
* [http://www.canviz.org/ "canviz" - HTML5 and Javascript]


== Installation ==
== Installation ==


; Windows
* [http://www.graphviz.org/Download.php Download] of GraphViz software (source and Win/Linux binaries).  
* [http://www.graphviz.org/Download.php Download] of GraphViz software (source and Win/Linux binaries).  
* The windows version has a *.msi installer. For VISTA, a command-line install is recommended, but I had to run the "click-on-it" install in order to have the gui tools through the command menu. Anyhow, it works fine both under VISTA and Win7
;Ubuntu 64-bit 14 LTS
* apt-get install graphviz
* However, sfdp still doesn't work (this is true since Ubuntu 10, years ago ...)
: Error: remove_overlap: Graphviz not built with triangulation library
... Manual installation/compilation could work, but I am too old for that and use my Windows PC instead ;)
; Ubunto 64-bit server
Download (as of May 2010):
wget http://www.graphviz.org/pub/graphviz/stable/ubuntu/ub9.04/x86_64/graphviz_2.26.3-1_amd64.deb
wget http://www.graphviz.org/pub/graphviz/stable/ubuntu/ub9.04/x86_64/libgraphviz4_2.26.3-1_amd64.deb
Install:
pkg -i libgraphviz4_2.26.3-1_amd64.deb
dpkg -i graphviz_2.26.3-1_amd64.deb
Since it is is likely that libraries are missing, type the following that should fix everything, i.e. retrieve missing stuff and install everything :)
apt-get -f install


* Under Ubuntu I could install it through the package manager (there are quite a lot of dependencies).
Note: Again, you will have to do this manually since the graphviz in the official Ubuntu install is old (sfdp layout engine missing)


* For solaris, you can download a binary from [http://www.sunfreeware.com/ sunfreeware.com] plus these: cairo-1.4.10, freetype-2.3.1, glib-2.14.1, graphviz-2.16.1, pango-1.18.2, xrender-0.8.3,expat-2.0.1.  
; Solaris
* For solaris, you can download a binary from [http://www.sunfreeware.com/ sunfreeware.com] plus these (check the version dependencies): cairo-xxx, freetype-xxx, glib-xxx, graphviz-xxx, pango-xxx, xrender-xxx, expat-xxx.


== Tutorials and introductions ==
== Tutorials and introductions ==


; Manual
* [http://www.graphviz.org/Documentation.php Graphviz - Graph Visualization Software] Includes both introductions and manuals. However, first contact with the documentation is confusing, i.e. finding the appropriate pages for a problem is not so easy. Also, there is no beginners tutorial that simply shows solutions for typical use cases.
** [http://www.graphviz.org/content/dot-language The DOT Language]
** [http://www.graphviz.org/content/attrs Attributes] for Nodes, Edges and Graphs
; Introductions
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphviz Graphviz] (Wikipedia)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphviz Graphviz] (Wikipedia)
* [http://www.wikischool.de/wiki/WikiSchool:Graphviz WikiSchool:Graphviz] (Tutorial in German)
* [http://4webmaster.de/wiki/Graphviz-Tutorial Graphviz tutorial] (in German). I like this one. Certainly the clearest introduction I found, although not complete.
* [http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7275 An Introduction to GraphWiz], September 10th, 2004 by Mihalis Tsoukalos, Linux Journal
* [http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7275 An Introduction to GraphWiz], September 10th, 2004 by Mihalis Tsoukalos, Linux Journal
; Examples
* See the [http://www.graphviz.org/ official home]
* In this wiki: [[Conole and Fill learning taxonomy]]
; Graphviz for UML
* [http://www.ffnn.nl/pages/articles/media/uml-diagrams-using-graphviz-dot.php UML Diagrams Using Graphviz Dot]. Explains how to create [[UML class diagram]]s.




[[Category: Visualization]]
[[Category: Visualization]]
[[Category:Mediawiki documentation]]
[[Category:SVG]]

Latest revision as of 19:40, 20 July 2018

Draft

Definition

  • Graphviz is an open source graph visualization software. It has several main graph layout programs, called layout engines.
dot
hierarchical drawings of directed graphs. The layout algorithm aims edges in the same direction (top to bottom, or left to right) and then attempts to avoid edge crossings and reduce edge length.
neato
spring model - attempts to minimize a global energy function, which is equivalent to statistical multi-dimensional scaling. See also fdp.
fdp
spring model layouts similar to those of neato, but does this by reducing forces rather than working with energy.
sfdp
multiscale version of fdp for the layout of large graphs.
twopi
radial layouts, The nodes are placed on concentric circles depending their distance from a given root node.
circo
circular layout - suitable for certain diagrams of multiple cyclic structures such as certain telecommunications networks

The GraphViz language and command line syntax

Command line syntax

See Command-line Invocation (at graphviz.org).

GraphViz includes several command line commands. The most imporant one is dot

The syntax pattern is:

cmd [ flags ] [ input files ]

Example:

dot -Tsvg GCF2.dot > GCF2.svg

Important flags:

-Tformat
-Tformat:renderer
-Tformat:renderer:formatter
Defines the output format. You also can choose from a renderer and change the default formatter for the renderer.
See the list of output formats.
Most important ones for web pages: png, svg, cmapx (client-side html map), imap (server-side html map) and vrml (partially supported)
Most important ones for printing: png, svg, ps, pdf
Most important ones for specialized clients: dot (reproduces the input, along with layout information for the graph), xdot (same with lots of additional information)
-Klayout_engine

Examples:

dot -Kneato is equivalent to running neato
dot -Ktwopi runs the radial twopi engine
-Gname[=value]
Defines attributes of the graph like overlaps, fonts, etc.
-ooutputfile
specify the output file. Otherwise it's written to default output.

Format, rendering engines, formatters and layout engines

Here are some examples

Client-side HTML maps
creates client-side image maps (of course you'll have to attache URLS to either nodes or edges or both)

Example:

dot -Tcmapx -oyour_graph.map -Tpng -oyour_graph.png your_graph.dot

Then use something like:

<IMG SRC="your_graph.png" USEMAP="#mainmap" /> 
... [content of your_graph.map] ... 
SVG output using the default dot layout engine

Default use:

dot -Tsvg file.dot

Create SVG output using the cairo renderer and formatter

dot -Tsvg:cairo:cairo file.dot
SVG output with the twopi engine
dot -Ktwopi -Tsvg GCF2.dot > GCF2.svg
PDF output with the twopi or fdp layout engines
dot -Ktwopi -Tpdf GCF2.dot > GCF2.pdf
dot -Kfdp -Tpdf GCF2.dot > GCF2.pdf
PNG output

Default use:

dot -Tpng 

specifies PNG output produced by Cairo formatted using the GD library:

dot  -Tpng:cairo:gd
xdot output
Pratical to see where nodes are being positioned so that you can manually change things
Also useful with graphviz clients

Example:

dot -Ksfdp -Txdot conole-fill-taxonomy-edutechwiki-sfdp.dot > temp.xdot

Some Neato command line examples

Lists configuration

neato -v

List all formats your installation can produce

neato -Tformat:

PNG output without overlap

neato -Tpng -Goverlap=false GCF.dot > GCF.png

SVG output

neato -Tsvg GCF.dot > GCF.svg
neato -Tsvg -Goverlap=scale -Gfontsize=8.0 GCF.dot > GCF.sv

Graph files

Graph file syntax

Below is a semi-formal grammar (i.e. the real grammar simplified). See the official doc for a complete one.

Parentheses ( and ) indicate grouping when needed. Italic square brackets [ and ] enclose optional items. Vertical bars ¦ separate alternatives. Stuff in bold must be typed "as is", e.g. bold [ ... ] square brackets or graph

graph --> (digraph ¦ graph) id {statement-list}
statement-list --> statement; statement; ...
statement --> attr-statement ¦ node-statement ¦ edge-statement ¦ subgraph cluster_xxx {...}
node-statement --> id [ attr-list ]
attr-statement --> (graph ¦ node ¦ edge) [attr-list ]
id --> id = id
attr-list --> id=val_id, id=val_id, ....
id --> String ¦ quoted string
edge-statement --> id (-- ¦ ->) id [attr-list]
Comments

Are C++ style, i.e. either /* ....*/, // or #

Identifiers (id and val_id)
  • Must start with a letter
  • Unquoted strings only can contain [A-Z][a-z][0-9] and "_"
  • Otherwise strings must be quoted

Graphviz attributes

See either (or both):

In addition.

We we understood right (this is a disclaimer!)

  • You may set these (most?) as global settings in the command line
  • As global settings in a file at the graph level or for all nodes or for all edges.
  • As "parameter" for node statements
  • As "parameter" for edge statements

Also, some will not work with certain layout programs and there is interaction. I.e. sometimes it's quite difficult to figure out what given attributes will do. I found that pinning down nodes in given locations won't work with sfdp (or maybe I didn't figure out how to do this ...) - Daniel K. Schneider 13:46, 24 May 2010 (UTC).

size
defines the size of the output in inches
Consult Wikipedia's papersize or ISO 216 articles for pratical tables that translate ISO (European) A,B,C formats to inches.

Example of a portrait A2 page:

size="34.4,16.5";
ratio
Is a crucial attribute for larger graphs that should fit on a given canevas size

Example:

will try to fill a "page" defined by its size.
ratio="fill";
page
Defines multiple page outputs (only works with PS)

Example of A3 output (biggest page a typical laser printer can handle)

page="16.5,11.7" 
shape
Defines the shape of a none

Example of a node redition:

Remove shape (keep the text only), make it smaller:
node [fontsize=8,shape=none];
overlap
determines if and how node overlaps should be remove. There exist several alorithms

Examples:

overlap="false"
overlap="prism"

Edge and node attributes

Some attributes only apply to either nodes or edges

E.g.

node [fontsize=14,fontname="Arial",shape=none,nodesep=1,ranksep=2];
edge [arrowhead=normal,arrowsize=0.3,len=0.3]

Simple graphviz for mediawiki examples

In this wiki, a directed graph that is represented like this (if you use the graphviz software as standalone program, you should remove the XML tags with are specific to the Graphviz mediawiki extension we are using here).

<graphviz>
digraph G4 {
            node [fontsize="10"];
            "Learning Theory" [URL="Learning theory"];
            "Pedagogic strategy" [URL="Pedagogic strategy"];
	    "Instructional design model" [URL="Instructional design model"];
            "Learning Theory" -> "Pedagogic strategy";
            "Instructional design model" -> "Pedagogic strategy"
}
</graphviz>

could render like that (yes this wiki has a graphviz extension, but we may not keep it for sure since it is somewhat CPU intensive)

A simple non-directed graph (Notice: the XML attributes are ignored, worked once with an older version that is lost to humanity:

<graphviz>
 graph G1 {
    aaa -- bbb;
    bbb -- c;
    aaa -- c;
}
</graphviz>

gives:

Or a more complex non-directed graph:

<graphviz border="frame" caption="G7 example" alignment="left" location="none">
graph G77 {
   node [fontsize="8"];
   run -- intr;
   intr -- runbl;
   runbl -- run;
   run -- kernel;
   kernel -- zombie;
   kernel -- sleep;
   kernel -- runmem;
   sleep -- swap;
   swap -- runswap;
   runswap -- new;
   runswap -- runmem;
   new -- runmem;
   sleep -- runmem;
}
</graphviz>

like this

Tools

See Graphviz - Graph Visualization Software (a longer list of interfaces, bindings, generators, scripts, etc.). Usually also needs graphviz software and the other way round. I.e. after installing Graphviz, you likely want to install a viewer or generator.

Mediawiki extensions

GraphiViz Viewers

Installation

Windows
  • Download of GraphViz software (source and Win/Linux binaries).
  • The windows version has a *.msi installer. For VISTA, a command-line install is recommended, but I had to run the "click-on-it" install in order to have the gui tools through the command menu. Anyhow, it works fine both under VISTA and Win7
Ubuntu 64-bit 14 LTS
  • apt-get install graphviz
  • However, sfdp still doesn't work (this is true since Ubuntu 10, years ago ...)
Error: remove_overlap: Graphviz not built with triangulation library

... Manual installation/compilation could work, but I am too old for that and use my Windows PC instead ;)

Ubunto 64-bit server

Download (as of May 2010):

wget http://www.graphviz.org/pub/graphviz/stable/ubuntu/ub9.04/x86_64/graphviz_2.26.3-1_amd64.deb
wget http://www.graphviz.org/pub/graphviz/stable/ubuntu/ub9.04/x86_64/libgraphviz4_2.26.3-1_amd64.deb

Install:

pkg -i libgraphviz4_2.26.3-1_amd64.deb 
dpkg -i graphviz_2.26.3-1_amd64.deb 

Since it is is likely that libraries are missing, type the following that should fix everything, i.e. retrieve missing stuff and install everything :)

apt-get -f install

Note: Again, you will have to do this manually since the graphviz in the official Ubuntu install is old (sfdp layout engine missing)

Solaris
  • For solaris, you can download a binary from sunfreeware.com plus these (check the version dependencies): cairo-xxx, freetype-xxx, glib-xxx, graphviz-xxx, pango-xxx, xrender-xxx, expat-xxx.

Tutorials and introductions

Manual
  • Graphviz - Graph Visualization Software Includes both introductions and manuals. However, first contact with the documentation is confusing, i.e. finding the appropriate pages for a problem is not so easy. Also, there is no beginners tutorial that simply shows solutions for typical use cases.
Introductions
Examples
Graphviz for UML